The Johannes Brotherhood would have every reason to celebrate this year, because 50 years ago the newly built shooting hall was inaugurated and opened for the shooting festival. In the time before, the festival had been held in a tent, alternating between the Mues barn and the field barn on Gut Holzhausen. The desire for a hall of their own was great among the shooters and released unimagined strengths. “Each of the 150 riflemen contributed 200 marks to this construction,” recalls Honorary Colonel Franz Volkhausen. Even the parish contributed a non-interest-bearing loan of 5000 marks to the building of the Schützenhalle.
And another big birthday can be celebrated: 70 years ago, the St. Johannes Schützen joined the Association of Historic Shooting Brotherhoods.
One hundred percent debt financing
The construction of the shooting hall, with one hundred percent outside financing, represented an incredibly courageous decision by the board of directors at the time. Two board members had even given the shooting club 10,000 marks each as a non-interest-bearing loan. The contract for the shell construction and masonry work was awarded. For the further work, the riflemen rolled up their sleeves under the direction of the first hall board member around Colonel Josef Volkhausen and took on a lot of their own work for the interior work.
The royal shooting in 1971 could already take place in the still windowless hall, a few weeks later the shooting festival was celebrated with the royal couple Reinhard and Angela Volkhausen. “In the coming months, parts of the hall will be renovated and modernized: new doors on the outside, an exterior painting on the weather side and the installation of a new heating,” announced managing director Johannes Schlütz. Thanks to the photovoltaic system on the roof, the hall is now self-supporting from a financial point of view.
The hall itself is supported by a photovoltaic system
Because the PV system installed in 2010 has already paid for itself (it generates 40,000 kilowatt hours per year), the Schützenbruderschaft will be financially sound for the foreseeable future and will be able to cope with the necessary investment. The wind money, which the Holzhausen clubs benefit from from the town’s wind turbines, also made an important contribution here.
The marksmen of the St. John’s Brotherhood are not only proud of their shooting hall, because it is an important factor not only for shooting festivals, but also for community life and cohesion in the village. Stag parties and weddings take place here, poultry and rabbit shows, but also exhibitions and cultural events. “The selection parties in the mid-1980s are still legendary today, when the hall was bursting at the seams with more than 600 visitors,” reports Franz Volkhausen. In 1986 an extension was added to the hall. The financing was secured by 36,000 marks from the city, which came from the sale of the old school. In 2018 this area was modernized and expanded into a Schützenklause with a bar. Franz Volkhausen has decorated the room with many documents, including a shooting festival poem by the local poet Alois Vogedes on platt.
The board of directors of the brotherhood is already looking to the year 2023. After a five-year break, not only will another shooting festival be celebrated and the city shooting festival organized, but also the 300th anniversary of the brotherhood. are committed. Linked to this is the publication of a commemorative publication on the village chronicle. The royal shooting is already on the agenda in 2022, as part of which the honors from recent years will be made up for.
–
